


Toil and Trouble

by curi_o



Category: Firefly
Genre: Challenge fic, Challenge: Rayne-y Halloween, Community: cobb_and_tam, F/M, Meta: Juvenilia, Topics: Camping, Topics: First Times, Topics: Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-27
Updated: 2006-11-01
Packaged: 2017-10-28 02:38:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/302818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curi_o/pseuds/curi_o
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River and Jayne go camping.  For some reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Toil

**Author's Note:**

> This took first place in the now-defunct LJ community cobb_and_tam's 2006 Rayne-y Halloween challenge. It was last edited (for style and language) 12/2011. I've left it otherwise intact as a kind of historical artifact and for readers who might have enjoyed the story when it was first published.

“What do you think?”

A pair of big brown eyes startled Jayne from his thoughts. “Huh?”

River sighed, exasperated. “Captain Daddy was right. The Ape-Man has begun the slow descent into hearing loss.”

Jayne scowled. “I ain’t losin’ no hearin’, little Crazy. I was just thinkin’ on more important things.”

“More important than _this_?” River’s eyes widened in disbelief as she gestured to the charts tacked to the common room wall.

“Well, excuse me for not bein’ as scared of blood-sucking creatures as _some_ Big Damn Heroes I could mention,” he raised his eyebrows significantly at River.

River scoffed. “This from the man who cowered behind blast doors while _I_ bested the flesh-eating monsters?”

“No fair bringin’ that up, Crazy. Them ain’t kosherized rules,” Jayne growled.

“Growling and scowling, but _I_ was the one disemboweling,” River teased in a sing-song voice.

“Disem— _what_?” Jayne shook his head. “Never mind. Just finish tellin’ me the plan.”

It was River’s turn to scowl. “I _did_ once. I should leave you to your doom. I don’t know _why_ I bother.”

“’Cause you love me,” Jayne joked.

A flush ghosted River’s face. “I do _not_ ,” she huffed. “Captain Daddy put me in charge of keeping you out of trouble, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Jayne was intrigued by the color in the pilot’s cheeks. Was she _blushing_? Was she _embarrassed_? He’d accidentally caught out somethin’ truthful! She _liked_ him!

Well, if that weren’t gonna make the next few days all manner of interestin’.

“’Kay, _sweetie_ ,” he felt a rush of satisfaction when she turned a deeper shade of red at the endearment. “You tell me just how you’re gonna keep a big, strong, handsome example of a man like me from danger, then. I’m gonna listen real good. I promise.”  
...

River held Jayne’s hand tightly. He smelled awful—of chemicals and death—but that was the price one paid for keeping the bloodsuckers away.

Evil gorram mosquitoes. At least he’d finally listened to her after she explained, in (perhaps slightly exaggerated) detail, the horrors of death by malaria. Malaria, of course, had been wiped out hundreds of years before, but Jayne didn’t know that, and she wouldn’t wake up itchy at midnight.

“I don’t get why you wanted to come out here, anyway, little Crazy. Sleepin’ on the ground ain’t half so comfortable as sleepin’ in your bed,” Jayne complained.

“I told you,” River tried to sound patient as she explained _again_. “Tradition. A time for confronting fears and finding rewards.”

“Well, I don’t know what kinda re-ward you’re expectin’ to get out in the middle of the woods,” Jayne grumbled. “Don’t see why you couldn’t just go trick-or-treatin’ for candy like normal folk.”

River gave Jayne what Kaylee called “The Look.”

“Do I seem like ‘normal folk’ to you, Jayne Cobb? Because I am not. Dress me up like a gorram doll and show me off and I’m still a freak, under the clothing.” She was satisfied when Jayne flinched.

The pair walked through the woods in silence for a few minutes before River continued, “Besides—I’ve never confronted my fear of bats.”

She was pleased when Jayne squeaked, “Bats? Like _vampire_ bats?”  
…

Jayne built the campfire to a nice warm glow before settling back on the log he’d pulled into the clearing. He fixed his eyes on River, dancing by herself in the growing dusk.

Why Mal’d decided _Jayne_ was the right person to stay with the feng le woman would be forever beyond the latter’s ken. The rest of the crew’d just rode off into the sunset—or city lights, as they happened to be—and left Jayne and River alone for a whole week.

Jayne’d kicked up a fuss, of course—weren’t no fun if’n he didn’t. Truth of the matter was, he didn’t right mind being just the two of them. River weren’t really any trouble these days—handled herself well in a fight, weren’t a bad pilot, didn’t talk out her ass like Mal an’ weren’t snobby like her brother. Plus, she was kinda pretty. Young, but pretty.

An’ then he’d figured out that she _liked_ him, an’ that put a whole new spin on things. Hadn’t been a female actually interested in him—not for more’n the money in his pocket, anyway—for nigh on fifteen years. He was surprised to find himself downright amenable to the idea of bein’ with a girl for more’n sexin’.

‘Course, the idea of sexin’ was high on his list of reasons why bein’ alone with River Tam weren’t a horrible situation in which to find himself. He wondered if’n she could teach him some fancified ways people sexed in the Core.

 _’Course not, you idiot._

River hadn’t gotten to be a regular teenager, fumblin’ around in closets with other teenagers an’ ridin’ out them awful hormones. She’d been mind-raped by that gorram Academy place. What if—he clenched his hands at the thought—what if they’d raped _more_ ’n her mind?

Well, he weren’t gonna try anythin’ with the woman-girl; didn’t want her to think he was one of them ‘lliance types, takin’ advantage of small pretty things where he found ‘em. He was gonna forget this foolishness of thinkin’ on sexin’ her an’ be sorta like a friend. Or another big brother. Maybe an uncle.

He hoped none of his uncles had ever looked at his sisters the way he was lookin’ at the dancin’ woman.  
…

As the evening darkened, River gravitated to the fire’s warmth and comforting light. She was glad Jayne had insisted she wear the loose leather cargo pants he’d bought her; they were roomy, but they kept in the heat better than her dresses would have.

When she entered the inner circle of warmth, River was delighted to find that Jayne had spread a heated canvas on the ground and over the log against which he sat. On the canvas were just-cooked steaks and potatoes he’d baked in the ashes as she danced.

River, ashamed that she’d allowed Jayne to do all the work when he’d already kindly agreed to come on _her_ camping trip, stood at the canvas’ edge, awkwardly staring at the lovely sight.

“Ain’tcha gonna eat? Damn shame to waste these expensive steaks—didn’t you spend two months’ salary on them?”

River jumped at Jayne’s voice. The last thing she needed to do was make him angry. Was he angry? He didn’t look angry. In fact, he was smiling at her: a genuine friendly smile, if a little amused. He even looked a bit worried.

She considered his words. It had actually been _three_ months’ salary, but that detail didn’t matter. He’d been paying attention to her, after all, and that was a surprise.

“Can’t eat if’n ya don’t sit,” Jayne’s voice startled River from her thoughts again. As her eyes fixed on his face, he shrugged, “My ma’s rules. She’d say, ‘You aren’t a horse, you aren’t a cow, you weren’t raised in a barn, and you won’t eat on your feet.’”

River giggled at his imitation of the older woman’s voice as she settled onto the canvas with Jayne, the food between them. The warmth of the material beneath her played a delicious counterpoint to the cool night breeze.

As she took the plate Jayne offered, the big man spoke again. “Don’t know why you went and spent so much money on these steaks, anyway. I was just admirin’ ‘em, you know.”

River chewed the tender, moist meat and swallowed. She looked Jayne in the eyes. “You agreed to stay with me, although it was not your desire. You agreed to accompany me, although it was not your idea. It was right to provide you a treat, Jayne.”

Jayne surprised River by assessing her thoughtfully. “I still think you ought’ve bought something for yourself. If’n I want steak, I can buy my own. I’m a grown man, after all; I can take care ‘f myself.”

River nodded, “We’re family, now. Family takes care of its own. Besides,” she smiled, trying to lighten the mood, “these pants you purchased for me couldn’t have been exactly inexpensive.”

Jayne was just full of twists and turns. River realized that as the man before her reddened. “’T’weren’t nothin’. You ought’ve had a good pair of leathers long a’fore now. They’re part of the life we live.”

“Maybe so,” River acknowledged the truth to his logic, “and I appreciate the gift.”

Jayne unleashed an honest-to-goodness, teeth-fully-bared _beam_ at her words. River couldn’t help but return his smile with a grin of her own.

Her grin grew when Jayne cleared his throat and said, “I, uh—I appreciate the steak, too. It was really right thoughtful of you. Ain’t had a friend go out of her way to do somethin’ nice like this for me before.”

River couldn’t check her body in time. She leaned forward and laid her hand on Jayne’s forearm. “Not just _friends_ ,” she murmured. “ _Family_.”  
…

Right. Family. Like an uncle. Family like an uncle and brothers and cousins and kissin’ cousins and kissin’—

Damn if her lips weren’t right there in front of his and her cheeks weren’t blushing so gorram prettily.

Jayne cleared his throat and jerked away before he did somethin’ he’d regret.

“Didja wanna make s’mores or somethin’? I got my guitar, an’ I can—“

Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa.  
…

River knew she shouldn’t have touched him. Touching him was the catalyst for a chemical reaction she couldn’t control. She’d warned herself against it.

But then she’d touched him, skin to skin, and she was pretty sure now that she was going to need to touch him again. Some part of her brain watched, horrified, as she switched over to autopilot. _Jayne’s going to run,_ it screamed. _Jayne doesn’t see you the way you see him!_

And still her fingers nimbly unbuttoned the plaid flannel shirt she wore. Maybe, if he saw how much a woman she really was, maybe he’d pretend to be hers, just this once.

By the time his gaze swung back to her, River had almost pulled her white thermal camisole from her body. Jayne’s eyes went wide before crashing shut, his hands over hers, keeping her torso covered.

She whimpered involuntarily as he dashed her hopes, broke her heart, brought her dreams to a halt. She really was repulsive, then, if Jayne—lover of the female body—couldn’t stand to see her naked.

 _Of course_ , she thought, as Jayne’s eyes opened to reveal dilated pupils and his mouth pounced on hers, _I’ve been wrong before._  
…

Okay, kissing the Crazy woman. That wasn’t exactly in the plan—not on any of her charts, ‘cause he would’ve noticed that—but it weren’t like they couldn’t rewrite the plan.

Yup. Rewrite the plan to include the special hell, ‘cause that’s where Jayne Cobb was fixin’ to spend eternity. This felt so gorram _good_ : his tongue in her mouth, her tongue in his, their mouths opening and closing and only wanting to be _closer_.

 _Sign me up for the special hell, Book,_ Jayne thought, _’cause if that’s the price for feeling like this, it’s a gorram bargain_.  
…

River wanted _more_. If this was going to be a one-time thing, taking advantage of the mercenary’s libido, she wanted to know what it was she’d be missing—what it was she’d _been_ missing.

Breaking the kiss, she pulled the camisole over her head and pulled Jayne’s hands to her chest, wondering whether his touch at her breasts would be as pleasurable as some women claimed. She’d never found anything particularly erotic about her mammary appendages, and she was slightly skeptical about the whol—

Woah.  
…

Hell, yeah. Ruttin’ _A_.

She was a _randy_ little thing, all demanding and bossy without words.

Jayne kinda liked that.  
…

The masses had been right about his hands on her breasts. She wondered about something she’d overheard Kaylee and Inara discuss and pulled Jayne’s mouth to her left breast.

Well, now she understood.  
…

She tasted.

She tasted so _sweet_ , like candy.

And pink—how’d she manage to taste like a _color_?

And there was salty, there, too, and the foam she lathered over her soft pink skin as the water cascaded through her tresses and her mouth fell open in ecstasy—

She was the best gift he’d ever given his tongue.  
…

It was cold and she was shirtless and even with Jayne’s mouth and hands and bulk, River was starting to notice the chill.

She felt around her body, blindly seeking a blanket or her shirt or something to trap the heat they were creating.

She shivered, and Jayne lifted his head, eyes unfocused. “Wass’ wron’? Cold?” he mumbled, rubbing his hands over her bare skin in an attempt to generate heat. River trembled again, though temperature was not the cause, and watched as Jayne’s head snapped from left to right, searching.

And suddenly he was on top of her.  
…

He hadn’t meant to pin her. He honestly hadn’t. The sleeping bags were on the other side of her body, just past her head. He’d reached for his and clumsily ended up blanketing the half-naked woman.

He winced when she grunted and pushed himself into a sitting position, pouting apologetically at her confused brown eyes.

“Sorry. Lost m’balance. Just gi’me a second, here, an’ I’m gonna make us a blanket,” he explained, unzipping his bag first, then hers, and zipping them together to make a nice warm comforter.

He almost laughed as her eyes widened. _So much for genius._  
…

He intended to share the warmth with her.

That would indicate his awareness of their actions, wouldn’t it?

This was a lot to ingest in a single moment. This—this changed _everything_.  
…

Jayne felt his chest warm at her contented sigh when he joined her beneath the covers. She snuggled into his chest like a _kitten_ —a River kitten. _His_ River kitten.

He idly fingered her unruly brown locks, concentrating on the feel of her breathing against him.

It wasn’t until he slid his hands down, the pads of his fingers sensing bare flesh, that he remembered just what they’d been doing. That was new. Used to be weren’t a thing in the ‘verse could distract him from sexin’, an’ here he’d gone an’ found somethin’ maybe just as good.

“Riv?” his voice was gravelly. “You sleepin’, Riv?”

‘Course, when she looked up at him with those big dark eyes, he realized he was still up for sexin’ when he could get it.


	2. Trouble

River was so _warm_ , now, with Jayne at her side and the sleeping bags over them and the heated canvas beneath them. It was a good warm—a warm more real than anything she’d felt with anyone but Simon.

She really _didn’t_ want to think about Simon just now, of course. She focused on the Jayne-warmth. He was so _large_ , standing: like a tree or a monument. Lying on his side, next to her, he was more accessible: still large, but soft with the firm. She imagined him as a bear—less furry and better smelling, of course—solid and heavy and steady.

She hoped he would take her with him, when he went away for hibernation. And when he spoke her name and she met his eyes and he pressed his lips softly to hers, she buried her hands in his fur.  
…

It was amazing, how one of his big paws could cover the whole back of her skull, could cover the span from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. He traced the indent of her spine, barely making contact, until she arched back into his fingers.

His arms decided that was the sign to pull her even tighter against him—to squeeze her stomach and thighs and breasts and her whole self against his form. He was moving on instinct now, kissing her hard and fast—her jaw would be tired in the morning, her lips and the delicate skin around them scratched raw from the fury of his mouth against hers—and still River responded in kind.

He sucked in a breath when he felt tiny hands stray from his arms and back, moving toward his waistband. Jayne wasn’t sure whether he was feeling disappointment or relief, when, instead of crawling lower still, those hands tugged at the hem of his undershirt.

He felt like pouting right along with River when the upward drag of the fabric from his skin was forced to a halt by the heavy flannel shirt above it. The woman in his arms yanked petulantly at the undershirt before leaning back in a huff and focusing on the buttons that had thwarted her plans.

He almost laughed at the way her tongue darted out between her lips as she steadily worked each button with the same concentration he’d seen her use on thinkin’, right before she’d launch a prank attack on Doc.

‘Kay, so maybe thinkin’ on Simon weren’t the best thing to do while sexin’ his baby sister, and he didn’t need River’s look of disgust to tell him that.  
…

 _Finally_ his chest was bare to her. They could be bare bears together.

And there was suddenly so much more _Jayne_ to explore. She slid down his front, eliciting a grunt of surprise from the big male, before attacking his chest with her mouth, licking here and biting there and causing Jayne to shiver. Her hands roamed across his bare back, moving in hard, slow circles.

Gradually, they approached his waistband again. When she slipped her hands beneath the stiff fabric of his trousers and the soft cotton of his briefs to grasp his buttocks, Jayne groaned—in pleasure, she thought—and reflexively palmed _her_ rear, pulling her pelvis against his.

At the feel of him, firm, against her, and the way he bent his head to lick at her neck, River squeezed. Delighted at the way he lurched against her, she began to experiment: slow and hard, fast and soft.

Jayne was getting frustrated, judging from the way his big hands were pushing at her waistband. The pants he’d bought her fit snugly across her hips, and he couldn’t find an opening to touch _her_ skin the way she was touching his.

River was about to pause and help him when his hands suddenly moved to the front of her trousers, fumbling with the snaps. She stiffened in surprise, which caused Jayne to freeze in fright.  
…

Oh, _go se_. He was such an idiot—just because he had maybe decided it would be okay to forget all that uncle-brother-cousin crap, he couldn’t go pushin’ her. He’d already decided it was up to her to take the lead, ‘cause he was _not_ going to be another person forcin’ her—takin’ away her choices.

He thought he was finally havin’ that mammoth coronary-ation Kaylee kept teasin’ him ‘bout when River slowly licked a path from his neck to his navel. She weren’t mad at him, at least, and that was a lot. He just needed to move his hands to more acceptable places.

Like her breasts.  
…

River felt a twinge of impatience when Jayne’s hands moved back toward her chest. Hadn’t she been clear enough in her invitation?

Apparently not. She pulled her hands from his pants and felt guilty when he again froze. She hastily moved her mouth to his, using her hands to guide his back to the fastener to her trousers.

Or, that was the plan, anyway. What _happened_ was much less graceful—her nose crashed into his; her chin, somehow, banged into his teeth; their foreheads collided painfully.

At least her hands had found his.  
…

 _Gorram_! Talk about misreadin’ signals!

‘Course, in all of Jayne’s extensive experience, a woman lickin’ on him was _definitely_ an invitation for more—but here River was, movin’ ‘em to a stop an’ _attackin’_ him with her face!

He pulled back and couldn’t help the glare that settled in his features as he yelled (well, meant to yell; it came out more like a middle-of-sexin’ growl.), “Ow! Couldn’t’ve just said, ‘Stop’?”

The look of shame and embarrassment that took River’s face caused a funny twistin’ feeling someplace close to where his heart must be. He didn’t want to be the cause of her feelin’ bad about anything—he was just bein’ his usual grumpy-ass self.

For some reason that defied logic (seein’ as how she’d just attacked him to make him stop; ‘course, if’n she said, “Stop,” again, he would. Again.), kissin’ her seemed like the right thing to do. So he did.  
…

River relaxed as Jayne’s lips gently brushed hers. He’d been hurt and surprised, but he had kissed her anyway. The tears she’d known were coming slid down her cheeks as she twined her fingers with Jayne’s and kissed him back with every warm feeling she’d ever had for the impulsive mercenary.  
…

“Why’re you cryin’, girl?” Jayne whispered between kisses. He felt her wet cheeks against his face and his heart had done that twisty thing again. What was he supposed to be doing in this situation?

 _Not bein’ intimate with the doc’s little sis, fool._ Strange how that voice in his head sounded like every awful boss he’d had before gettin’ to Serenity and her crew.

And River Tam, who was still kissing him through her tears.

“I’m _safe_ with you. I’m warm and even when I drop the glass tray, I’m _home_ when I’m with you,” she whispered, and Jayne felt his heart twist and untwist and his stomach flip and then his whole body was responding to her approval and trust.

“Gorram right you’re safe with me, River Tam,” he growled, gently kissing her wet cheeks. The salt of her tears tasted bitter and sweet and Jayne was pretty sure he was home, too.  
…

He kissed her face so tenderly, River thought. He was _her_ bear, for as long as he could abide being her shelter. Slowly moving their entwined hands from between their bodies, River slowly sat up, pulling Jayne’s torso with her. She maneuvered her body onto his lap, legs wrapped around his torso. That done, she brought both sets of hands back to her waistband, intent on finishing the job she’d mangled so spectacularly the first time around.

She thrilled as Jayne pulled back to search her eyes, the heat in his own intensifying. Together, they managed to unfasten not only River’s leather pants, but Jayne’s trousers, as well.

River pushed back on Jayne’s shoulders, pulling her legs from behind him to lie flat on his body. She grinned mischievously at his face as an idea formed in her brain and she slithered down his torso.

She made sure to scratch the sides of Jayne’s legs as she pulled his trousers and briefs down, before shedding her own leathers and underwear. River paused before sliding back up Jayne’s body, locating the sleeping bag-blanket that had been displaced and wrapping it over her shoulders, pulling it up to cover both of them.  
…

Jayne was positive his eyes crossed at River’s sinful torture. She was rubbing up his body all right, and she was kissing _everywhere_ in her path—starting with the base of his straining erection. She moved slowly, dropping feather-soft touches blindly across his flesh before bathing him in her breasts and her stomach and her arousal.

It was the single sweetest thing another human being had done for him since he’d left home twenty-odd years ago. He was probably going to fall in love with this female, if he hadn’t already landed in the stuff.

By the time her mouth reached his, Jayne wasn’t sure he would last long enough to sex her properly. The reader woman on top of him must have read his thoughts.

Before he could react, she’d grasped him in her hand and he was sliding into her and his eyes were rolling back in his head at the sensation.

Well, she wasn’t going to get away that easily. Before she could start moving and take away his opportunity, he grabbed her hips with one big hand, holding her still, and wet the fingers of the other in the same moisture that surrounded his erection.

The first time he touched her, she jumped, tightening almost painfully around him. He watched her face, gratified to find her eyes fixed on his in a blatant expression of desire. He concentrated on her eyes and the feel of her beneath his fingers and around his penis.

When he felt her body tightening around him and under his hands, he moved his hand from its position stilling her hips to stroke her breasts, hissing as she began to move over him.  
…

She was in charge. This was _her_ choice. She chose this man and the way he felt across the room and across town and the way he felt next to her, the way he felt when his big form engulfed her, the way he felt _inside_ her and the way he felt underneath her.

She grinned down at her bear, laughing through the breaths that came in sharp pants now. “Perhaps _this_ is the reward about which you asked, Jaynebear,” and her body erupted in spasms of joy.  
…

Jayne watched River Tam fall apart for him, and as he let himself go, he wondered what he’d done to earn the wonder that was his girl.


End file.
